That’s a wrap on Season 5 of Augmented Ops. Hard to believe we’re already here — but what a season it’s been.
We’ve had the chance to talk with some of the most thoughtful experts and practitioners in the industry, including CEOs, engineers, and digital transformation leaders. Folks who are doing the real work of building the future of operations, one production line, one app, one breakthrough at a time.
As we wrapped up the season, we took a step back to reflect on the big themes that kept coming up — and what they mean for the future.
AI is Everywhere (And Nowhere)
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: AI is the buzzword of the year. And yes, we’ve felt the shift first-hand. Inside Tulip, generative tools have reshaped how we write code, research, and make decisions. For our day-to-day tasks, the productivity gains are real.
But on the shop floor? It’s a different story. Introducing AI to physical environments — where mistakes translate to scrap, downtime, or safety risks — is a bigger lift. Adoption still lags behind the hype. It’s no longer “Can you use AI?” but “Can you trust it to run your factory?”
That said, the signals are promising. When Composabl CEO Kence Anderson joined us in Episode 148 to talk about his work building intelligent autonomous agents, we saw how AI can drive decisions and keep operators in the loop. It’s early, but it’s the kind of transparent, explainable innovation that moves AI from buzzword to operational backbone.
Citizen Development Isn’t Coming. It’s Here.
If AI is the rocket fuel, citizen development is the steering wheel. Nobody made that clearer than Audrey Van de Castle at Stanley Black & Decker (Episode 154), who’s shepherding low-code apps across more than 100 plants.
Her frontline engineers aren’t waiting for corporate IT tickets — they’re building digital tier boards, work instructions, and quality management tools on Monday, deploying them to the shop floor by Wednesday, and using feedback from frontline operators to deliver the first updates by Friday. When the people closest to the problem can also be the people who build the fix, continuous improvement goes from slogan to reflex.
Digital Transformation Is Dead. Long Live Continuous Transformation.
We had to say it: digital transformation might be the most beat-up buzzword of all time (yes, even more than “Industry 4.0”). In Episode 157, AstraZeneca’s Jim Fox pointed out that if you put twenty people in a room you’ll get twenty definitions of “digital,” making the term “a little bit unhelpful” at best.
But the reality is, there’s no finish line — no “mission accomplished” moment. The work of improving operations — eliminating inefficiencies, responding to new constraints, adapting to change — is never done.
So let’s stop pretending there’s a final destination.
Instead, we’re leaning into continuous transformation — the kind of steady, adaptive, never-finished improvement that reflects how real-world operations actually work. It’s not about installing one new system and calling it a day. It’s about building systems that evolve with you.
Why Composability Outruns Traditional MES
Traditional MES tried to do everything and ended up doing nothing well. Gartner pulled the plug on its Magic Quadrant, and we’re not surprised. In volatile markets — pandemics, supply-chain shocks, regulatory curveballs — locking into a rigid monolith is a recipe for failure.
Composable platforms let you update, add, and swap out functionality as needs evolve: add AI-powered inspection this week, replace a legacy quality management module next, spin up a new app when the product mix shifts. Agility isn’t a nice-to-have; in today’s environment it equates to survival.
What Comes Next?
Volatility is the new normal, but so is opportunity. We’re declaring the next twelve months The Year of the Composable Operation — where AI augments every frontline worker, citizen developers shape the day-to-day experience on the shop floor, and composable architectures flex at the speed of reality. Build for change, bet on your people, and the breakthroughs will follow.
Thank you to every guest this season — and to you, our listeners — for making these conversations possible. We’ll be back in the fall with fresh voices, new insights, and plenty more shop-floor truth-telling.
Stay curious, stay agile, and see you on the frontline.
— Natan & Erik
AI, Agility, and Enterprise Architecture
Check out the full podcast episode for a deep dive into the power of citizen development, the need for manufacturers to stay agile, and the evolution of MES systems.